THIS WEEKEND Rising
action hero Vin Diesel claimed the box office crown with the muscular opening
of the testosterone-filled spy thriller XXX.
However, the broader marketplace failed to keep up as almost every other
wide release suffered a decline of more than 50% leading to yet another
drop in overall grosses versus last summer. Two other new titles were met
with mixed results. The family adventure Spy Kids
2: The Island of Lost Dreams opened with respectable figures
while Clint Eastwood's Blood Work disappointed.

The much-hyped actioner XXX soared
to the number one spot with $44.5M, according to final
figures, launching a new action movie franchise for producer Revolution
Studios and distributor Sony Pictures. Skydiving into 3,374 theaters, the
Rob Cohen film averaged a supercharged $13,191 per venue and outperformed
last summer's Cohen-Diesel collaboration, The
Fast and Furious, which bowed to $40.1M. Furious,
however, played in 746 fewer locations and averaged a more potent $15,255
average.

The loud opening of XXX represents
the fourth biggest for Sony and the fourth largest in the month of August.
In the PG-13 film, Vin Diesel plays an extreme sports-loving felon recruited
by the government to be a secret agent. Samuel L. Jackson co-stars. Young
males were the target audience and showed up in big numbers. According
to studio exit polling, 52% of the audience was male and 60% was under
the age of 25. Sony poured tens of millions into its marketing campaign
and has already begun development on a sequel. While critics gave XXX
mixed reviews, moviegoers were generally pleased. Audiences
polled by CinemaScore.com gave the stunt-driven spy actioner an A- grade
overall with those under 21 giving it an A.

Mel Gibson watched sales get sliced in half for his suspense thriller
Signs which collected a still-impressive
$29.5M in its second weekend. Playing in 3,310 theaters, the M. Night Shyamalan
film averaged a solid $8,899 per crop circle and lifted its ten-day cume
to $117.7M. The Buena Vista release crossed the century mark on Saturday,
its ninth day of release, and became the tenth $100M blockbuster of Gibson's
career. The 51% decline was understandable given the lofty height of the
opening frame and the new competition from XXX
this weekend. With weaker titles debuting in the weeks ahead, Signs
could find its way to $190-200M.

Opening in third place was Miramax's family adventure film Spy
Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams with $16.7M over the Friday-to-Sunday
period. The sequel to last year's surprise blockbuster played in 3,307
theaters and averaged $5,053 per location. Since its Wednesday bow, the
PG-rated film has grossed $25M in five days which is just shy of the original's
$26.5M three-day opening tally. The first Spy
Kids went on to gross $112.7M. Spy
Kids 2, which reunited writer/director Robert Rodriguez with
the cast from the first movie, reportedly cost $38M to produce which is
relatively inexpensive for an effects-filled action sequel. Moviegoers
polled by CinemaScore.com gave the picture an overall A- grade with the
target audience of kids giving it an A.

Audiences continued to abandon Austin Powers
in Goldmember which sank 58% to $13.1M in its third weekend.
The New Line comedy sequel has now grossed $167.8M in 17 days and should
make it to about $190-200M. That would put Goldmember
a notch below the last installment of the franchise, 1999's
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,
which grossed $205.5M domestically.

Moviegoers mostly ignored Clint Eastwood's latest detective pic Blood
Work which grossed just $7.3M in its opening weekend. Warner
Bros. released the actor/director's film in 2,525 theaters and averaged
a poor $2,896 per site. Reviews were mostly positive and audiences polled
by CinemaScore.com gave the R-rated picture a B grade.

The Dana Carvey comedy The Master of Disguise
plunged 59% in its second weekend and placed sixth with $5.1M. The $16M
Sony release has grossed $23.8M in ten days and should finish with $30-33M.
Road to Perdition enjoyed the best
hold among the major Hollywood movies dropping 36% to $4.2M giving the
DreamWorks release $84.3M to date. The critically acclaimed Tom Hanks drama
continues its journey towards the $100M mark.

IFC Films continued to expand its unstoppable indie hit My
Big Fat Greek Wedding adding 66 theaters for a total of 723
resulting in a $3.1M weekend take. Still averaging a solid $4,334, the
PG-rated comedy has grossed an amazing $45.1M thus far with countless more
presents still to open.

Martin Lawrence Live crumbled 58%
in its sophomore outing taking in $3.1M. The low-budget Paramount concert
comedy has laughed up $13.1M in ten days and should reach $17-20M before
heading off to video store shelves. Stuart Little
2 rounded out the top ten with a steep decline of its own. The
Sony sequel fell 56% to $2.7M raising its cume to $53M.

Fox Searchlight generated the biggest platform opening in company history
with the Jennifer Aniston starrer The Good Girl
which grossed $151,642 from only four theaters for a potent $37,910 average.
The R-rated drama about a woman torn between her husband and a younger
co-worker received rave reviews for both the picture and Aniston's acting.
Girl has grossed $208,639 since its
Wednesday premiere. Hoping to capitalize on such a strong start, the distributor
will expand the film into 18 additional markets on Friday for a total of
about 55 theaters. More expansions are planned for the following two weekends
which would put the Miguel Arteta-directed drama in about 500 locations
by Labor Day weekend.

Also bowing well in limited release was the British comedy 24
Hour Party People which grossed $34,940 from two Manhattan locations.
The MGM/UA release looks at the rise of the punk music scene in Manchester
in the 1970s.

Three films dropped out of the top ten over the weekend. Sony's Men
in Black II fell 57% to $2.1M in its sixth mission and boosted
its tally to $186.5M. The $140M tentpole pic should end its run with around
$190M falling short of the 1997 original's $250.1M domestic tally. Harrison
Ford's submarine flop K-19: The Widowmaker
sunk a terrible 68% to $909,113 raising its cume to $32.9M. Paramount's
$100M actioner looks to conclude its run with a poor $34M making it Ford's
lowest-grossing summer movie in well over a decade. Disney's The
Country Bears also continued to fall apart crumbling 74% this
weekend to $824,211. The G-rated family comedy has collected just $14.3M
to date and should finish with a $16M final.

The top ten films grossed $129.3M which was down 10% from last year
when American Pie 2 opened at number
one with $45.1M; but up 40% from 2000 when Hollow
Man remained in the top spot with $13M.

Compared to projections, XXX debuted
lower than my $55M forecast. Spy Kids 2
also opened below my $24M prediction while Blood
Work bowed very close to my $8M projection.

Take this week's NEW Reader
Survey on next weekend's new releases. In last week's survey, readers
were asked how this summer's films have been compared to last summer's.
Of 1,843 responses, 63% said Better, 16% thought Worse, and 21% said Same.

This column is updated three times each week : Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Data source: Exhibitor
Relations, EDI. Opinions expressed
in this column are those solely of the author.